Secret Empire state of mind.

 Week Ending 26th May 1973

The Mighty World of Marvel #34

There's nothing spectacularly interesting about the stories this week that would make a fetching cover, (I know that's not the best way to start out the blog but stick with me I'll find something,) the Hulk takes General Ross and Rick Jones for a ride while the Fantastic Four fights Doctor Doom again! But Rich Buckler does hand in a functional and attractive cover. The characters seem more real and I think the colour palette works well. I always feel that the Mighty World of Marvel logo looks best in red and blue. Mike Esposito handles the inks in his usual efficient way.

The Incredible Hulk "The battle cry of the Boomerang!"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby, Bill Everett

Inker: Bill Everett

Originally published in Tales to Astonish #82

Cover date August 1966

(Published in May 1966)

There aren't many comic strips that start with the hero lying down like he is asleep, only to find himself in the desert seconds before a missile barrage breaks his peace and quiet, all thanks to Tyrannus's "Matter Transmitter", that seems to have pulled him out of one war zone and placed him into another. It's strange but very memorable because if you came across this comic by luck and hadn't see last weeks issue you certainly wouldn't have expected that.

You can tell it's a battle zone because of all the crazy sound effects added to the strip by either Jack Kirby, Bill Everett or Artie Simek. It's become a theme of these Hulk stories, the battle scenes are a mass of noise. There's even a "FOOM!" sound effect, or is that there to advertise Friends Of Ol' Marvel? 

Let's not forget where this story came from and where it's going to, Boomerang, an agent of the Secret Empire has kidnapped Betty Ross to use as leverage against her Father - General Ross so as to coerced him into giving up the Orion Missile. The Secret Empire are a group of powerful anonymous individuals who have banded together to form an elite underground criminal organisation.  It started as a subsidiary of  THEM, itself a subsidiary of Hydra only to later forge its independence from both groups. Nine high ranking members form the inner Council of Nine, with "Number One" being the overall leader. Each member keeps their identities secret from one another beneath robes and hoods.

There was much infighting within the Council of Nine, in this story Number Five was murdered by booby-trapped equipment he was using. The other two members believed that Number Nine had been responsible for this act. Meanwhile the Hulk crossed paths with Boomerang and a screaming Betty Ross. After a short fight with the Hulk managed to rescue the young damsel.

A page of in-house adverts starting with a cheap advert for the latest issue of  Spider-man Comics Weekly. No pictures, images or artwork, just a list of this weeks stories. What they lost with pictures they made up for with a thesaurus, as we are told that Spider-man and the high flying Human Torch vs. the merely bombastic Beetle! and  The God of thunder Thor in battle withe the Lethal Lava man! in issue #15. Also we are teased that in the issue after next we'll finally get to fine out who are the lucky winner of the football contest from a number of weeks ago. As you would expect there's another half page advert for FOOM too.

The Incredible Hulk "Less then a monster, more than man!"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby, Bill Everett

Inker: Bill Everett

Originally published in Tales to Astonish #83

Cover date September 1966

(Published in June 1966)

I find this "Beauty and the Beast" style plot line charming, Betty Ross still hasn't with her own eyes seen proof that Bruce Banner is the Hulk, but the gentleness of the Hulk towards her makes her start to believe it. The creative team plays with that concept especially as the art team makes Betty look incredibly more attractive than usual, may be its just the wet hair in the rain but Betty Ross certainly looks the most "Hollywood sex symbol" of any female Marvel character of this period. 

With the army split between guarding the Orion Missile and looking for the Hulk and the General's missing daughter the Secret Empire's agent, Boomerang spots an opportunity to steal that prized weapon. 

When the it looks like Boomerang has fail in his task a meeting of the Secret Empire's Council of Nine is held, albeit without the mysterious Number One, to discuss his failure. Typical of these corporate super villain groups, all talk and little action. An argument breaks out with the power hungry Number Nine taking his side of the argument to the extreme by killing the six members of the council with an grenade, he himself only surviving due to the fact he was prepared for any "board room take over" by wearing protective armour under his robes. His real identity still remains a mystery in this story. 

SPOILERS: it was revealed in Strange Tales #149 October 1966 (published July 1966,) that S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Gabriel Jones had infiltrated the Secret Empire and was trying to take the organisation down from the inside during this time by posing as Number Nine, making the readers believe that Jones had killed eight of the council members. This story was seen by British readers in The Titans #31 cover dated 22rd of May 1975 so to Marvel UK fan's Agent Jones looks like a killer. However later still in Captain America #175 July 1974 (published April 1974,) it was retconed that Gabriel Jones had infiltrated the Empire as Number Six and too had survived the grenade blast by also wearing protective armour, and then off page subduing the villainous Number Nine and taking his place. That Captain America story never saw print in a Marvel UK comic. It's complicated but true. 

The Generals task force confronts the Hulk but thanks to Rick Jones the green goliath was calm down enough to stop a major incident. The Hulk picks up the General and Jones up and carries them to Betty who explains that the Hulk had rescued her from the Boomerang. She also tells her father she's convinced that the Hulk isn't a menace and that he really is Bruce Banner the man she loves.

Fed up with all this talk about Banner the Hulk leaps away to find solitude in his thoughts as he sits on a mountain top and we wait till next week to find out what happens next, which I'm looking forward to as this little run is really growing on me.

The Mighty Marvel Mailbag.

First up in this weeks mailbag is from Steve Miller from Southport who offers a jokey question asking if the Hulk is really a mutant olive? On a slightly more serious note Lynette Larson from Lancashire who says that the Hulk appeals to her mother-instinct as she finds his innocence and charm similar to a little animal. Adding that she hopes that he gets a lucky break. Kevin Golden from London finds flaws in the Fantastic Four story "The return of Doctor Doom" because when Reed and Doom switch bodies Reed should be able to escape from an airless chamber because he has Doctor Doom's brain. The editor replies that they swapped bodies but kept their own personalities. Donald Stuart from Newcastle also questions a Fantastic Four story "Mad Ghost", he always thought that the Moon has no gravity so the FF should be floating in space and also how can they breathe if the Moon has no air? Well Donald the Moon’s gravitational pull is about ⅙ of the Earth’s so things would weigh lighter but they wouldn't float away. As for the air he must have missed the the location they landed in was the "Blue Area" that was built by another civilisation that had created its artificial gravity and atmosphere similar to Earth's. Albert Milgrom from Sheffield (is he called Al for short? Does he do covers as a hobby too?) agrees with Carl Gafford that Marvel has great super villains, with  Cara Sherman that Prince Namor is the greatest and with Mike Harris that there should be two pages of letters every week. Is that the first occurrence of fan community from readers through the letter pages? 

Robert Tudor from Bolton who worries that now that Ivan Kragoff (the Mad/Red Ghost,) has discovered how to gain powers through Cosmic Rays, the Bodavians could over run the world with Super-Badavians. James Erickson from Harlow writes that the Mighty World of Marvel constantly surprises him with the carefully worked out plots and artwork, adding that they shouldn't let the stories get stale and he'll be a fan for life. Finally Sidney Puritan from Bedford writes that his mother told him that the Marvel staff reads every letter they receive whether they print them or not, adding "I'll bet secretaries read and answer them!" The reply given is that they wish they had secretaries! But the assistant editor opens the letters, reads them and then picks out the ones chosen for the letter pages. They also answer them and makes sure Stan Lee sees the important suggestions or the mistakes that readers spot. 

The Fantastic Four "Defeated by Doctor Doom!"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Dick Ayers

Originally published in Fantastic Four #17

Cover date August 1963

(Published in May 1963)

We start with the returned of  the Fantastic Four and Ant-man from the Micro-verse as seen in last weeks adventure. After a brief recap of those events Mister Fantastic sets about creating a device to locate Doctor Doom, while the Human Torch uses his flames to create "sonar heat waves" to detect Doom's steel armour, how that works is anyone's guess, you know Stan and Jack they play fast and lose with science. The Thing tries the old tried and tested methods to find Doom by wearing out his shoe leather walking the streets to comic-effect. Which leaves the Invisible Girl who checks out the seedy side of the city in her own special way. They all fail to find the fiend and that's because the Doctor has been watching the FF from right under their noses, disguised as the Baxter Building's janitor. Have they never seen Scooby Doo? He uses his position to affix a small tracking device on each members hand, so that a floating "Follower" quite literally follows them around causing chaos. Later its been generally agreed that these "Followers" that looked like a ridiculous, flying, fat, bald man are in fact holograms that cover spy cameras used to observe the Fantastic Four.

It's all part of a plan to cause embarrassment and confusion leading to his final purpose the complete destruction of the Fantastic Four. Part of that plan is to kidnap Alicia Masters by means of a strange "Grappler Ray" that brings her to Doom's "Flying Fortress" to hold as leverage against the FF. Doom demands the US government give him a place in the Presidents cabinet, with the Fantastic Four unable to act against him.

Due to the differences between the President at the time of original publication and year in which Marvel UK published this story two panels showing John F. Kennedy were altered to portray Richard Nixon, the second panel is quite strange as it just shows a profile shot of Nixon's nose! Also references to the Iron Curtain were redrawn as well as the features of Party Leader Nikita Khrushchev changed to a generic dictator as per Marvel UK's practice of "not offending British readers with portrayals of Eastern political countries" like Russia and China.

To be honest I'm not the biggest fan of Doctor Doom, he's a generic 60's "baddie", some stories deal with him really well and they get better at it in the future but you know he'll escape them reappear in later stories without any personal development, that's part of the reason he was so badly portrayed in the Fantastic Four films. Don't get me wrong he can be done brilliantly by Stan and Jack, we'll get to those stories in future Power of the Beesting reviews of the Mighty World of Marvel and other weekly comics I hope, so stick with it and there'll be fantastic times ahead.

Spider-man Comics Weekly #15

It's the second time in three weeks that the Human Torch has appeared on the cover of Spider-man Comics Weekly. Stan and Jack really liked the firebug and squeezed him into Spider-man stories when they could. Rich Buckler had lots of success with the character when he drew him in the Fantastic Four during the late summer of 1973, these covers were just a warming up exercise. Mike Esposito of course added the inks to the cover.

Spider-man "Where flies the Beetle..!"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Steve Ditko    

Inker: Steve Ditko 

Originally published in The Amazing Spider-man #21

Cover date February 1965

(Published in November 1964)

I always felt that the Beetle was a Spider-man foe but he had started off as a Human Torch villain in Strange Tales #123 cover dated August 1964, published May 1964 where he fought the Torch and the Thing when they caught him thieving at the 1974 World's Fair exhibition at Flushing Meadows in Corona Park, Queens. That story was written by Stan Lee and drawn by legendary artist Carl Burgos, who is noted for creating the original Human Torch in Marvel Comics #1 for Timely Comics. The Beetle must have served nine months in prison for that theft before he was released in this story. The criminal justice service in Marvel's America must take a very lenient view when it comes to sentencing. 

 That story has never been reprinted in any Marvel UK comics as far as I can tell, so to fill in who this new character is and what's his beef with the Torch the Marvel UK editors add a very large text box to fill in British readers with his motivation for disliking Johnny. In the American version an asterisk was printed at the end of the Beetle's speech balloon which linked to a small text box at the bottom of the panel with a line to Strange Tales #123. The Beetle hatches a plan when he follows the Torch and sees him talking to his then girlfriend Doris Evans. He plans to kidnap the girlfriend.

Peter bumps into Doris and they quickly strike up a purely platonic friendship, however when Johnny spots Peter leaving Doris's house he becomes very jealous and later finds Peter to warn him off seeing Doris again. Which gains some respect from Peter's classmates, although not much from Flash, but at the same time upsets Betty Brant as she believes that there may be some truth in what Johnny thinks about Peter and Doris. 

Peter goes as Spider-man to Doris's house in the hope that this might wind up the Torch more but instead he interrupts the Beetle's attempt to kidnap Doris. This leads to a fight between insect and arachnid. Doris calls Johnny on the phone but after some minutes of disbelieve he too visits her home to find the place a shambles. Finding Spidey he jumps to the wrong conclusion and starts a fight. In the end between the two teenage heroes they manage to capture the Beetle but Spider-man leaves feeling untrusted and shunned. I do kind of like this story, its full of teenage tomfoolery, it's easy to see that period between childhood and adulthood were people do the silliest of things mainly because of over excited hormones. 

The Web and the Hammer

Brothers Ronald and Howard Harris from Cardiff have come up with a handy idea of how Thor can stay in his God like form without the need to hold onto his hammer. A simple holster to hold it near his body. Maybe Thor doesn't need his belt of strength but a tool belt instead. Jay Kinney from Brentwood likes the Thor story "the day Loki stole Thor's hammer!" but he thinks that Loki is used a little too often. Tom Asherman from Harrow says his favourite villain is the God of Mischief but still agrees with Jay about the number of times Loki is used in the Thor strip. Tommy Boyle from Wembley complains that he's tried a number of ways to gain super powers like in Stan Lee's stories but none of them work. Lowell Alberts from Hampshire really likes Msyterio as a super-villain because he's an original character with a believable secret identity. Lowell could do without all those Bodvaian villains though, wanting Thor and the Hulk to team-up and finish off that country. But Lowell that could start a third world war!

Burton Crawley from Glasgow writes the longest letter I have seen so far in a Marvel UK letter page. He goes to write at incredible length about Spider-man. Waxing lyrical about his origin and his relationship with J. Jonah Jameson. He does bring up a point that has crossed my mind during the many years of reading Marvel comics. Why does Jameson always take out his frustrations on Spider-man and not the Fantastic Four or Daredevil? 

George Wilson from Lawrence writes that at 5 pence Spider-man Comics Weekly #6 was the greatest buy he's ever made, saying that the Green Goblin is the best super villain in Marvel UK by far and adding the guest appearance of the Hulk in that story was an extra bonus. I personally wouldn't go that far but I do get George's point. The last word in this weeks letter pages goes to Linda Lessmann from Eastbourne who enjoys both the Mighty World of Marvel and Spider-man Comics Weekly but her favourite character in either of them is Thor. "He's handsome and strong, definitely every girls dream man!" She finishes her letter by saying that she'll never stop reading Marvel comics. Well Linda I wonder do you still read comics and does Thor still do it for you?

 This stupendous Spider-man Comics weekly Pin-up page is taken from the cover of the Might Thor #147, cover dated December 1967 (published October 1967,) by Jack Kirby and Vince Colletta. The comic logo, story title "The wraith of Odin!" and a floating ghost apparition of their father are removed from the cover to make this pin-up.  

 

  

The Mighty Thor "The Lava Man!"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Don Heck

Originally published in Journey into Mystery #97

Cover date October 1963

(Published in August 1963)

The final strip for this week is as you all no doubt have guessed is the Mighty Thor and it's quite a cracker. It's feels like the start of a classic period for the Thunder God with Jack Kirby returning as regular artist on the strip. Even with Don Heck adding his signature style over Jack's pencils you can't help see the mighty Kirby-ness in Thors artwork. It feels like the grandeur of the strip has returned. The strip is full of epic action but with strings of melancholy romantic moments as a now romantic looking Don Blake feels his optimistic love for Jane Foster evaporate in the stories bitter sweet ending. 

But before we had chance to dwell on the "what only" ending Thor in a plea to mend his torn heart asks his father permission to marry the mortal nurse. The All Father makes his position on the matter plain, asking his son has he "taken leave of his senses?? The God of Thunder marrying a mortal?? It is impossible! Petition refused!!" The cress fallen God has little time to take in his father's wishes as he is called to save New York from a rampaging Lava Man who has been manipulated by the mischievous God of evil, Loki to attack the city. Fantastical action ensues in the might Marvel manner. Thor defeats the molten menace but at the cost of losing his aching hearts love to a rival Doctor due to Don Blakes disappearance during the battle with the Lava Man.

Finally for this week in the inside back page a promise to reveal the answers and winners of the football contest from five weeks ago in just two weeks time. A basic advert for this weeks the Mighty world of Marvel #34, "Action! Suspense! Thrills! All in the magnificent Marvel Tradition!" And your usual FOOM in-house advert, still only 50 pence! 

If you're wondering what was on the back pages of this weeks MWOM and SMCW, they are the same as from last weeks issues, an advert to buy your own Incredible Hulk T-shirt for the sum of 75 Pence! Does anyone have any recognition of buying one? I tried to get a picture but do you know how many images you get from Google when you type in "Hulk T-shirt from 1973"? There's plenty of replica T-shirts but a single one that could have been from that offer.

So on that note I'll leave you all googling "Hulk 1973 T-shirt" as I start planning next weeks blog.

See you in seven.

Make Mine Marvel!